‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Holds Top Spot at Box Office With Strong $25.9 Million Second Weekend

“Crazy Rich Asians” continued its luxurious ride at the box office in its second weekend, pulling in $25.9 million and besting tracking expectations for $18 million.
The Asian-American centric romantic-comedy directed by Jon M. Chu has totaled $77.7 million domestically for Warner Bros., and it’s flaunting a 94 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
“Crazy Rich Asians,” adapted from Kevin Kwan’s best-selling book, has earned acclaim both as a fun rom-com and as a rallying cry for Asian-Americans looking for more representation in the industry.
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While the MPAA reports that Asian audiences account on average for about 6 percent of total domestic grosses last year, they accounted for 40 percent of the film’s opening weekend audience, according to comScore’s PostTrak, a demographic share unheard of for a Hollywood film.
Another Warner Bros. film “The Meg” held on to its second place spot at the box office despite a couple of new releases this weekend. “The Meg” pulled in $13.1 million in its third weekend. The shark flick, which has a 47 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, has grossed $105.3 million at the domestic box office so far.
In third was STX Entertainment’s domestic wide-release of “The Happytime Murders,” which took in an estimated $10 million in its opening weekend. The Melissa McCarthy-led film directed by Brian Henson, the son of the legendary Jim Henson, opened to 3,256 theaters with a per screen average of $3,076.
“The Happytime Murders” was expected to to gross between $13 million and $15 million this weekend.
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Also starring Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale and Elizabeth Banks, the film, which explores a world where humans and puppets coexist, had a weekend audience that was 59 percent male and 63 percent 25 or older.
The top five films at the box office this weekend was rounded out by a couple of holdovers in Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” which earned $8.1 million in its fifth weekend, and Disney’s “Christopher Robin,” which earned $6.4 million in its fourth weekend.
The overall box office total for the weekend was up 52 percent compared to the same weekend last year.
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Outside of the weekend’s top five was the opening for Global Road Entertainment’s “A.X.L.” The film grossed roughly $2.9 million in its wide release, which was in-line with estimates. Written and directed by Oliver Daly, the adventure film stars Thomas Jane, Becky G and Alex Neustaedter.
The low opening for the film doesn’t do much to help the Global Road, whose film division was effectively taken over by creditors last week as the company tries to avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.